I've decided to write an entry on Jane's Birth. Jane is the newest addition to my family. She decided to make her grand entrance on Friday, October 15, 2010 at 1:20pm. It's all still rather fresh in my memory, so now would be as good a time as any to share my experience.
My due date was October 14. I had had a bit of a rough pregnancy that included a threatened miscarriage in the early stages, followed by horrible morning sickness that had Mike pulling the car over on the side of the road so I could throw up on many, many occasions. After that, it was the separated pelvis. That was probably the worst part. It felt as if my pelvis were broken, and it only got worse as each week went on and she put more and more weight on my poor pelvis.
Near the very end, I started fainting. The worst was the first time it happened. I was 37 weeks along. I had picked Alice up from school and we were walking around Zellers. I had found everything I had gone in for and was heading towards the front of the store when I suddenly blacked out. I came to (no clue how long I was out) and Alice was sitting next to me on the ground asking me to please wake up. (I'm not even going to get started on the lack of help I received while there)
So that led to me going to the hospital for observation for three hours, as well as some blood tests. I was sent home after two blood test results came back normal. I was called later that evening to go back to the hospital. There was some of Jane's blood in my blood stream. We were RH compatible, though, so the reason for going back was top check my blood again to make sure the volume of the mixture hadn't increased.
My midwife took my blood, we sent it off, and we waited. We had to do more fetal monitoring and knew that if the blood mix was the same or even went up that it would require an ultrasound. We asked the OB on staff if she would just send a request of ultrasound while we waited, as that would be the quickest way to rule out a placental rupture. She said no. When we got the blood tests back, we were told we now needed the ultrasound to rule it out...but the ultrasound clinic was now closed, so I had to wait until the next day. Ugh.
Everything turned out fine, they figured the fall just made the membrane leak a bit. We (Mike, midwife, and myself) decided it would be best if we started doing stretch and sweeps to try and get Jane to come out so that I could avoid any further risk to her if I fainted again. We also set an induction date for 41 weeks instead of 42. That date was for Friday, October 22, 2010.
I had a total of three stretch and sweeps over the course of two weeks. After the third one didn't work, we set an appointment for the Monday after my due date, as well as one for the 21st - the day before my scheduled induction.
Now, here is where my social life comes into play. My best friend, Amanda, and I always go to this bar right by our homes. We usually go Tuesday for karaoke (which we did go to on the 12). Well, the 14th (my due date) was the bartender, Jen's, birthday. She wanted us to come out and see her. So we did.
At the bar everyone was asking when I was due and they all thought I was crazy for going to the bar on my due date (Almost got into a bar fight, too!) (Not even my fault and I chose the self-preservation mode of walking away) We stayed until the bar closed (just after 3am) and everyone there said Jane would arrive on the 15th. I figured I would actually make it to my induction date, given that Alice had been 11 days late when I was induced with her.
Amanda and I both went home and I settled in for whatever sleep I could get...it was around 3:30 when my head finally hit the pillow.
NOW FOR THE LABOUR
I woke up at about 7:30 to the alarm clock. It was time to get up and get Alice ready for school and Mike was getting ready for work. (Mike drives Alice to school in the mornings) Mike was already getting ready for work and was in an out of the bathroom by the time I had the urge for my morning pee. (I hate when that happens) So I waited for Mike to be done. He usually washes and gels his hair before work, it takes some time. For some reason, I decided to look at the clock. No clue why. It was 7:50am. I then laid back and felt this 'bump' in my stomach - as if Jane had a hiccup - but it wasn't followed by another hiccup, it was followed by a gush of fluid.
I stood up, said 'UM!' sat down on the edge of the bed and again said 'UM!' then laid back, hoping to make sure I wasn't just urinating all over myself and said a third 'UM!'. I then said 'Mike?' he answered 'Yes?' and I said 'UM!' He came into the bedroom and looked at me and the bed and I looked at me and the bed. It looked as if my water broke, but I was still in shock and was very unsure.
I wasn't feeling any contractions at all. I was just laying there. I called my mom's house and spoke to my stepdad who then gave me to my mom. She told me to call my midwife then get back to her.
I called my midwife and found out that she was off that weekend so I would be using my secondary midwife - which was actually a team of two women and the one I spoke to on the phone was off duty at 10, so I would get the other one if I went into labour later that day. The midwife didn't seem too concerned that my water broke and that I wasn't feeling any contractions or anything. She reminded me that many people wait hours before labour starts after their water breaks - but that if it didn't happen within 24 hours, I would be induced.
At this point, I was still in shock, but walking around the apartment a bit. Mike asked if it was ok to go to work. I told him to go ahead. I decided not to have Alice taken to school, though. Mike took her to his mom's instead.
I decided to use this time to get a quick shower and wash my hair. I turned on the shower and just as I stepped in, I got the worst pain I had ever felt in my life. Worse than the labour pain with Alice. It was a looooong contraction. I figured that maybe I was just being a baby, as the first contractions aren't 'supposed' to be that bad. I started washing my hair with Alice's 2-in-1 shampoo because I knew I wouldn't have time for a full shampoo and conditioner. I don't know why I knew this, but I did. My second contraction came before I had time to rinse my hair. I got out of the shower and called my midwife.
It was around 9:15am at this point. My midwife asked me how close the contractions were. I told her I didn't know as I hadn't timed them - I was in the shower. I got a contraction while on the phone with her. We waited it out then continued talking. Within what felt like seconds, I had a second contraction. She said 'You're the one whose mom had fast deliveries, right?' I told her that yes, I was - my mom had extremely fast labours with all of us. She told me to get to the hospital for 10:30 (it would take me time to get dressed and grab my bag and get a ride there and contact everyone I had to contact) and that my other secondary midwife would meet me there.
My mom came to take me to the hospital. Mike was leaving work to head to the hospital to meet us there. I couldn't find my shoes, so I just grabbed a pair of ballet slippers and put them in my hospital bag. I couldn't be bothered to put them on with the frequency of contractions (2 minutes apart, each lasting 45 seconds) As we drove to the hospital, I recognized the car in front of us. It was Mike. We honked and waved like idiots.
My mom drove me to the front door and dropped me off. I waddled towards the elevator when a lady's voice called out from behind the information desk 'I'm sorry, you need to put some shoes on, ma'am' I turned, gave her a look, and she realized the situation and said 'never mind'. Smart woman.
I got upstairs and my midwife wasn't there yet. The nurse who took me to my room was very rude. She didn't even lower the hospital bed for me. It was almost chest height. When Mike and my mom got up, I was in the hallways yelling that it hurt. We waited for what seemed like ages for my midwife to show up. I know she got there as fast as she could, but I still hated the wait.
The contractions were still 2 minutes apart at this point, but they were lasting for about a minute each time - so I asked for the magic needle man. It took a bit for him to show up, and he started to insert the catheter into my back before we all realized I wasn't fully frozen. THAT was pretty painful in itself. But after some more local numbing needles, I got my epidural catheter placed nicely.
My dad and my sister came down to see me. We all settled in and expected that I would be there for the rest of the day. Mike and I texted and tweeted to keep people updated. My friend Amanda was working several blocks away and I was texting her as things progressed.
My first cervix check was done at about noon. I was 5 centimeters. We figured it would take a good chunk of the day for labour to continue, so I brought out my mp3 player and music pillow (it has built in speakers) and tried to relax a bit.
After a short while, I let my midwife know that I had some mild back pressure. She checked my cervix and was surprised that she 'couldn't find it' (her words!) She told me to tell her before I felt like pushing so she could call for another midwife to come and assist with the birth. I told her she should probably call her at that point.
It couldn't have been better timing. Pretty much as soon as the second midwife arrived and we were introduced, I started pushing at 1:10pm. At one point, I felt the urge to push even though there wasn't a contraction. My midwife told me to go ahead, as long as I didn't bear down. My body knew what it was telling me. (that was wonderful to hear, especially when compared to my delivery with Alice. The doctors shouted at me to only push with contractions no matter what I felt)
Jane was born at 1:20pm. After ten minutes of pushing. I had gone through all stages of labour within 4 hours. Shortly after delivery, I felt kind of sad that I had an epidural again, but my midwife told me she would have actually recommended it. I had no bag of waters for the whole labour and it was intense. She thinks I would have been too tense to labour as well as I did with the epidural. It was nice to have compassion when I felt kind of down.
Mike got to cut Jane's cord. They asked me to guess her weight. I said probably 8 11 - just because I wanted the 'bragging rights' as my sister had an 8 10 baby. It was awesome when I found out I was right. I had even guessed Alice's weight back when she was born. So far I'm two for two!
After Jane and I were cleaned up and I had mu first cuddle with her, my midwives brought me some toast with peanut butter and Mike got to have his cuddle with her. I had texted Amanda once Jane was born, so she told me she was on her way. I told her to hurry because I would be going home soon. She made it in time and she got to meet Jane before we went home.
I was home by 5:30pm. I didn't want to recover in the hospital. I didn't want to share a room with a stranger, and I wanted to relax in my own bed. Best decision ever.
When I had left the hospital, I had planned on breastfeeding, as Jane latched really well at the hospital. But that's another blog entry.
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